Mobile networks that facilitate transfer of information at broadband rates continue to be developed and deployed. Such networks may be colloquially referred to herein as broadband wireless access (BWA) networks. A variety of different device types may be used in broadband wireless technologies. Such devices may include, for example, personal computers, smartphone, laptops, netbooks, ultrabooks, tablets, handheld devices, and other consumer electronics such as music players, digital cameras, etc., that are configured to communicate over the wireless broadband networks.
A wide range of possible deployments of scalable features are being considered for BWA networks such as, for example, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and/or High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) networks. Scalable UMTS, for example, may be intended for various re-farming cases where 5 MHz allocations may leave a fraction of unused band. Operators may group carriers within their own bands closer to make use of the unused band, which may result in some inter-carrier interference. At edges of the carrier spectrum, adjacent to other operators, adjacent channel interference may be excessive for user equipment (UE) close to a “foreign” cell. Other example deployments may include the use of scalable UMTS in larger allocations to optimize the use of the spectrum. For example, three nominal carriers and one scalable carrier may be squeezed into 15 MHz. Operators may implement closer grouping of adjacent carrier bands to optimize use of allocated spectrum and to provide guard bands of the spectrum to avoid interference with other operators and systems.